Day: March 18, 2018

I would like to add that the ‘Fa Yan’ lineage of the Ch’an School is particularly well-placed to assist the revival, preservation and transmission of traditional Chinese culture within a thoroughly ‘modern’ setting. The ‘Fa Yan’ tradition is ancient and has survived for hundreds of years as a distinct and intact transmission of Ch’an Buddhism. The ‘Fa Yan’ lineage of Longyan can be very useful and serve China faithfully in this task.

My attention was drawn to this story yesterday, by a post on social media purportedly made by one of the monks residing at this temple. I was immediately struck by the very ‘non-Buddhist’ sense of ‘victimhood’ voiced by this (Asian) member of the ordained Sangha, and how he encouraged the (predominantly ‘Western’) laity to respond to this matter with an emotionally ‘disturbed’ mind-set.